Welcome to BookView Interview, a conversation series where BookView talks to authors.
Recently, we interviewed Rey U Barrera about his writing and his recently released novel, El Piñatero: The Legend of Simon Alejandro De La Peña , a beautifully written, entertaining, and heartfelt YA story (Read the review here.)
Rey grew up in the South Texas town of Corpus Christi. His love of writing came from reading books well into the night and eventually dreaming of coming up with his own worlds and characters.
While in high school, Rey read a quote from Mark Twain, in which he referred to Tom and Huck as “his boys”. The notion that Twain had brought these characters to life, to the point of referring to them as his children, was a concept that Rey had never considered. And that notion brought so much meaning to everything he wrote – even short, seemingly insignificant, stories that no one would ever read. With El Piñatero, Rey hopes to blend the fictional world of piñata fighting with some real family experiences.
Rey makes his home in Texas, with his wife, Asored, his son, Simon and their cat, Albus Neko Potimus Prime of the Fifth Age of the Dragon Crown (or Neko for short).
What were your inspirations for the story of El Piñatero?
When I was very young, I would travel with my parents to Mexico to visit family. While walking through the small town of Mier, I would see happy taco salesmen passing by with their food carts. So, I bugged my parents for a food cart, because I wanted to sell tacos just like them. I wanted to make that my career. My parents would laugh about it; not because it wasn’t a great job (heck, food carts are all the rage now), but rather what may have seemed like such a small thing to them was a dream to me.
The story of El Piñatero follows the theme that an apparently insignificant dream could amount to something bigger than we could imagine. And what I’m doing for the sequel takes that concept to an exponential level.
Simon’s undercover double life mirrors that of many superheroes – and he’s the got the heart to match a superhero’s, too. Do you think of Simon is a sort of superhero yourself? Was that an intentional part of his character build?
Not so much a superhero. Simon (named after my son) does have a sense of nobility, particularly when seeing something unjust, but ultimately, he just wants to do something that he truly loves for a living. In this case it’s pulling piñatas for kids. But I suppose it is true that as he becomes more involved with the piñata league, he encounters people that perhaps go against his own moral compass, and some heroic instincts kick in.
Speaking of Simon’s character build, how did you create the protagonist of your story? Is he based on anyone you know in real life, an amalgamation of all the traits you like to see in a protagonist, something else?
Exactly. He possesses traits I’d like to see in a protagonist, but I also wanted him to be flawed, even in his own sense of duty to his family, who he clearly loves. It’s what might happen when you want to do good for the ones you love, even if you believe that keeping secrets from them is ultimately for the best. But Simon also possesses some traits that I strive to personally possess, particularly with some of the decisions he makes later in the story. We live in a world now where judgement is passed with little to no consideration for what another person may be going through. Pausing to consider this, prior to making accusations, or pointing fingers, is something that I aim to do in my everyday life, and I try to pass that on to my son and nephews.
One quick addition. The character of Simon’s uncle, Beto, is not only based – and named – on my real uncle, but my uncle is a pro at pulling piñatas, and very much part of the reason why this story exists.
Do you have a favorite character (or at least, perhaps a character that you hold even closer to your heart than the others)? If so, who is it?
Without a doubt it’s Simon’s little sister, Vanessa. From the onset I wanted her to be this sage-like moral police for Simon, but I also wanted her to hold her own against her older brother and her cousins. She is a tiny thing that fears no one. She also watches television shows that no kid her age would watch. Not necessarily inappropriate. Rather, other kids would find documentaries on The Aztecs to be a snooze fest. Vanessa stays up late to watch ‘60s episodes of Star Trek. I think that’s where she gets some of her wisdom.
According to your author bio, the location of Simon’s upbringing is similar to your own. Why did you decide on this particular place setting for El Piñatero?
I would say familiarity, but it’s not really that. I wanted to shine some light on South Texas and my hometown of Corpus Christi. Besides, it was important for me to have the Piñata Brava take place in an old warehouse by the ocean, and Corpus lends itself well to that. There is also some geographic relevance to the follow-up novel as well. Proximity to Mexico is important. Corpus is a shiny city with some old traditions that still hold strong in the smaller neighborhoods, and despite this story taking place many years ago, those traditions still hold true today. Not least of all is that of having piñata parties to celebrate birthdays!
What was the most challenging part of writing this novel?
Motivation. I wrote the novel during the COVID downtime. This story was originally intended to be a movie (a prequel short was shown at the San Antonio’s Film Festival). But COVID hit just as we were prepping to shoot the movie. So, I spent the rest of the year transcribing it to a novel format. I needed to flesh out the characters beyond their script counterparts, and since this is my first novel, I needed to motivate myself to continue writing until it was completed.
Who (or what) are your writing inspirations?
I would absolutely say that my university professor, Antoinette Winstead, was inspirational in my love of writing, even if I’d miss her class sometimes to buy video games. She encouraged and supported even some of my cheesier projects with the kindest words, and the motivation that a confused college student needed to hear. When the prequel movie was shown in San Antonio, she was there to support it, and nothing could have made me happier.
What’s next for you?
The sequel. I’ve always loved stories where what you see in the first act is only a small fraction of what’s in store. And that’s not a sales pitch (not really, anyway). Simon’s world – as well as that of his friends – is going to change in a way that they could never imagine. Now that I think about it: you mentioned the challenges. One of my biggest challenges was completing the first book, because THIS sequel is the book I wanted to write, but I couldn’t get here until I established the world in the first novel. Ok, I guess it’s a sales pitch after all.
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